318 CORVJDJE. 



breed in confinement. The desire to pilfer and hide any 

 small shining article, observable in all the birds of this 

 family, is particularly conspicuous in the Magpie, and has 

 been made the subject of a dramatic performance of an 

 interest so intense, that few who have witnessed the exhi- 

 bition are likely to forget. 



Through its bad name the Pie is now become, as before 

 remarked, a rare bird in England ; but some pairs breed 

 yearly in every county. In Scotland it is more common, 

 and in certain parts of the country may still be called 

 numerous. It is not found in Shetland, Orkney or the Outer 

 Hebrides, but, according to Mr. Gray, occasionally visits 

 Islay and Mull. 



It is now very common throughout Ireland ; but that this 

 was not the case once, is proved by investigations begun by 

 Ogilby, and published in the First Edition of this work, 

 though some of the evidence was unknown to him. In the 

 ' Polycronicon ' of Ranulphus Higden, who died about 1360, 

 the Pie is named among various animals not found in Ire- 

 land*. This chronicle was translated by John of Trevisa be- 

 tween 1357 and 1387, and the portion containing a description 

 of the three kingdoms was printed in 1480 by Caxton. In 

 that of Ireland, the passage (fol. 24/>) runs thus : — " Ther 

 lacken vnkynde faucons, gerfaucons, partrychis fesaunte, 

 Nyghtyngals & pyes, Ther lacken also Roo and bucke and 

 Ilespiles wontes and othir venymous bestes." 



In 1578, Derricke, who wrote 'The Image of Irelande', 

 published in London in 1581, says — 



No Pies to plucke the Thatch from house, 



are breed in Irishe grounde : 

 But worse then Pies, the same to burne, 



a thousande maie be founde f 



Higden 's words, as given by Prof. Churchill Babington in 18G5 (Rolls Ed. i. 

 p. 338;, are : — "desuut hie degeneres falcones, quos laniarios vocant, desunt ct 

 gyrofalcones, perdices, phasiani, pica et philomelse. Caret quoquc capreis 

 el damis, hericiis, putaceis et talpis et cseteris vencnosis.'' This list of de- 

 ficiencies has largely benefited subsequent writers, and generally without acknow- 

 ledgment on their part. 



f On the margin are the notes "Irelande hath no Pyes breeding in it", and 



Better it were to haue Pyes the prowlers." 



